


Oopsied

by Ebhenah



Series: Future Klance Family Fics [21]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adoption, Background Allura/Romelle - Freeform, Big family, Canon Divergent, Domestic klance, Found Family, Future Klance Family Fic, Interspecies family, Keith is a dad, Keith's Galran Sucks, Lance is a Dad, M/M, Married Klance, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post Season 7 AU, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, accidental adoption, allura is alive, foster adoption, introducing Nyra, klance raising teenagers, life on the atlas, mixed species child, sentimental dads, surro-kids, well loved kids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-25 06:14:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21731395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ebhenah/pseuds/Ebhenah
Summary: Keith returns from a routine mission with a surprise that no one was expecting, and one that adds a new layer to the concept of 'found family'.It's really a good thing that Lance loves kids so much.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron), Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: Future Klance Family Fics [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1265678
Comments: 17
Kudos: 70





	Oopsied

The list of things he needed to do just kept growing in his mind. Talk to Lance and the kids first, obviously, then… med bay probably. No… Shiro. Definitely Shiro, and Allura… Message his parents and Yorak. Shopping would have to be in there, too… and arranging some time off from work, reduced hours at school for the kids to help with bonding. Damn. There was just… so much. But… they could do this.

It would be fine.

It was just… unexpected. That’s all.

He slung his bag over his shoulder, still thinking a mile a minute when the air crackled and Kosmo appeared beside him, making soft welcoming noises and bumping his muzzle against Keith’s leg. Smiling he crouched down to give the space wolf an affectionate greeting. “Keep it down, buddy… she just fell asleep. Don’t wanna wake her.”

He’d missed Kosmo.

And if his reunion was longer than a four day trip would normally warrant, that didn’t mean it had anything to do with the script he kept writing and rewriting in his head for when he saw his husband.

Yeahhhhh, this required a script… or at least a decent introduction. Something better than “I can explain!”

“Pup-pup!” Little hands clapped together, the excited but sleepy voice echoing through Black’s hold and making the massive Lion send a rush of warm affection through him. God, she was a charming little thing, wasn’t she?

“Go on, bud… say hi,” he said and Kosmo turned his attention to the new person. Happy shrieks of laughter bounced off the walls, filling the space. Kosmo was long familiar with children, patient with sticky, clutching fingers and too rough handling, so he let the tiny girl clamber all over him. “His name is Kosmo,” Keith said brightly, “Kos. Mo.”

“Mah-zohk!”

“Kos. Mo,” he tried again.

She peered up at him, all gold and lavender eyes and riotous curls, her expression serious. “Maaahh? Zohk!”

“You know what? That’s really cute, you can just go with that,” he caved. “Mahzohk works for now, right bud?” Kosmo licked her face, making her giggle again, so Keith took that as agreement. He let the toddler and the space wolf play together for a few minutes, unable to keep from smiling fondly at their antics. He didn’t let it go on too long though- she’d barely slept and even after only three days, he knew that when she was tired, she got overstimulated easily and the last thing he wanted was to be trying to cope with one of those ear splitting tantrums on top of everything else.

“Kosmo… time for us to all go home.” He gave the space wolf a good head scratch. “Meet you there, buddy.” He blinked out, presumably returning to the Kogane family quarters.

The little girl gasped, eyes wide and her little mouth making a perfect ‘o’ as she stared at the spot where Kosmo had been. “Mah-zohk?” she twisted back and forth, curls bouncing. Finally, she turned her attention to Keith, holding out her little hands, fingers spread wide. “Boof!”

“Yeah,” he chuckled, “he went poof! Wanna go find him? Come on! Let’s go find Kosmo!”

She slapped her hands over her eyes and babbled, then whipped them away and yelled, “beep ahooo!” Her little face fell when she realized that she hadn’t been able to summon him with her game of peek-a-boo and it looked like she might cry.

Uh-oh.

“Nyra! Nyyy-raaah,” Keith cooed, holding his hands out, “up? You wanna get up?”

“Nyyy-uh up?”

“Yeah Sweetness, you wanna come up? Or you wanna walk?”

“No walk! UP!” Scowling adorably she thrust her arms out. Yeah, that’s what he expected. He leaned down, scooping her into his arms. Instantly, her long, thin tail coiled around his arm and held it snugly. She curled into his chest, head resting on his shoulder.

She weighed barely anything- which made sense given how small she was… and the fact that her cloud of hair was half the size of her, making her look bigger than she actually was. Smiling at her, he moved the curls away from where they’d weighed down her tall, satiny ears, rubbing them softly. He couldn’t tell if having her ears folded down like that was uncomfortable for her, but she seemed to really love the gentle pressure that he intended to soothe any discomfort, so he kept doing it whenever he fixed the issue and then smoothing out her black ear tufts before he took his hand away. “Ready Sweetness?”

“Yup,” she answered, nodding at him, eyes glowing softly.

“You are too cute,” he sighed, stroking a knuckle down her cheek, still surprised by the soft white velvet of her short fur.

“Yup,” she agreed again giggling when he tapped her nose.

* * *

“Kosmo’s back!” Lucas called from the living room where he and Kashi were playing video games. It would have been helpful information except that Kosmo had blinked in not two feet from Lance. Silently, he looked through the door connecting the kitchen and the living room from the wolf to his son and back again and wondered if their youngest thought he was blind. Teenagers!

“That means your Dad will be here any minute,” Lance pointed out, “and I know you are both way too old and too cool to get excited about seeing us after a mission, but you will put away the video games and welcome him home properly.”

“But Papi-”

“Ahh bip bip bip,” Lance cut him off, “Kashi! I KNOW you did not just try to argue with me about putting away the video games two days after getting them back from last time you did that!”

“Uhhhhh…”

“So, what exactly were you going to say?”

“Um… I was gonna say ‘but Papi, we are always excited to see you guys when you get back from a mission’?” His son grinned, trying to sell the fib. It didn’t work. But Kashi knew it wouldn’t. The kid was too much like Keith- wired for blunt honesty- to be very convincing when he tried to lie. They were both like three year olds trying to deny touching whatever forbidden thing they were still currently holding. It was ridiculous, really.

“Mmhmm,” Lance hummed, “that’s what I thought. Now, chop chop, I want the whole system stowed and out of sight before that door opens.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lucas grumbled, glaring at Kashi. He hadn’t lost video game access, but he didn’t like to play them solo and while Rai and Talia would happily join him for the occasional game, it wasn’t the same for him. They didn’t like the same games as Kashi. They didn’t trash talk and carry on the same way Kashi did. Rai was serious and focused on the puzzles and plotline, with a bit of a completionist streak. Talia got bored with sandbox games and rpgs, only really interested in fighting games. So, he hated it when the video games were off-limits to Kashi and wasn’t shy about letting him know. They didn’t often argue, his youngest boys, but when they did it was generally about Kashi being more careful not to ‘turn into a jerk’ about the video games.

Leaving them to it, Lance snuck a couple of treats to Kosmo. “Don’t tell Keith,” he whispered playfully. Even now, he had no idea how much Kosmo understood and how the weird connection Keith had with his space wolf worked, so he tended to err on the side of caution and assume he could understand English. He pulled out his phone and sent a message to the twins and Thace letting them know that their Dad was safely back on board the Atlas. They pretended it was over-the-top for their parents to let them know whenever they heard from whichever one was away for work, but the one time Keith had believed them when they said they didn’t need to hear it because ‘we know, God!’, they’d been a mess by the time Lance had gotten home. Scared to death that something bad had happened and no one told them. It wasn’t easy knowing that your parents put themselves in danger so often. Pretending it was silly to worry was a coping method… one they probably learned from him, actually. Oops.

He checked on the casserole and started the coffee machine, just milling around trying to find tiny things that needed doing and could be taken care of now so that he could focus on his family once Keith got back to their quarters. So many of his friends, and even a couple of his siblings complained about getting sick of their significant others. He never felt that way about Keith. Sure, they got on each other’s nerves, and they bickered and argued like any couple. There had even been a few fights over the years that were real doozies. But they got through them. Maybe it was because they tried really hard to make sure that one of them was able to stay with the kids when there were peaceful missions that needed their attention. Maybe it was because they’d gone through so much to get together in the first place. Whatever it was, he genuinely missed his husband whenever they were apart for more than a day or so. Four days was short, but it was still long enough for the bed to feel too big and their home to feel too quiet and to miss sharing a look that spoke volumes when the kids did something that they couldn’t comment on outloud but really, really begged for a comment… and with Kashi and Lucas that was like… five times a day. He heard the door and his life slipped back into place, the slight discordance of his husband’s absence evaporating in an instant and all was right with the world again.

“Dad! Woahhhh…”

“Holy crap!”

“Okay, okay… keep it down… she conked out while we were walking from Black. Where’s your Papi?”

“I’m right he- what?” Lance froze- half in the kitchen and half in the living room.

“Hey Tumbleweed,” Keith said, expression sheepish, “I missed you.”

“Dad, what’s going on?” Lucas asked, voice cracking.

“Nothing bad, bud,” Keith assured him, “just give me a minute to talk to your Papi, okay?”

“Yeah, but who is that?”

“Just… give us a minute, guys,” Lance sighed, “take your Dad’s duffle upstairs and go hang out in your room. We’ll call you down in a bit.”

There was a few minutes of silence as the boys did as they were asked. The whispering started the instant their feet hit the second level, making Lance roll his eyes. “Kitchen? I put coffee on.”

“Sounds good…” Keith followed him into the kitchen, and since he had his arms full of… uh… alien… Lance pulled out a chair for him. While he was getting settled, Lance fixed up the coffees, handed one to his husband and leaned against the counter.

“So…”

“Okay… I can explain.”

“I figured,” Lance smiled at him, “let’s start with- who is this?”

“Uhh… Nyra,” Keith answered, smiling softly, “her name is Nyra. Well, Nyra’estavrok, but that’s a mouthful, so… Nyra.”

“And where is she from?”

“Umm… no one is really sure… she was recovered from a crash site, ended up in a medical facility for a while to heal, and she’s kind of bounced around since then. She’s half-Galra and hal-”

“Poor thing,” Lance interrupted… which, okay… it was rude… but he’d been trying to stay quiet and he just couldn’t. Things were better now, but there was still a lot of intolerance among certain populations of the Galra against kids with mixed heritage and that little one had already been through so much! “How old is she?”

“Uhhh… she’s like five or six… but she’s essentially a toddler… a young one… like two-ish.”

“Right… Right. The whole extended infancy thing… I thought that was recessive? She’s mixed so…”

“Galra aren’t the only species with that gene,” Keith answered, his eyes wide and tender, “she’s so sweet Lance. Just… so sweet.”

He knew that look, knew what it meant… which made perfect sense with that history. “We always need milk,” he sighed.

“Huh?”

“We always need milk, and you never remember to pick up milk. Like, never. It’s been decades, we have four teenagers in the house and you still never remember to pick up milk. It drives me nuts. But… one time. One time! I was holding Hoshi and she did that spit bubble thing and the top of her head smelled like… sunlight and baby powder and sleepiness somehow and I said ‘she makes me wish we had another daughter’... Once, I said that… and that’s the thing you remember? Really, babe? You can’t remember to bring home milk, but you remember to bring home another daughter? How are you… just… I love you.”

He could see the tension leave Keith’s frame in a rush. The smile that lit up his face was absolutely beautiful. “I love you, too,” he said gently. “I know this is… sudden and out of left field and nothing like we always promised we’d handle-”

“Keith stop. They tried to find any relatives she might have?”

“Yeah, of course! Her DNA was uploaded into all the missing persons databases and there’s nothing.”

“And you said she bounced around? How long?”

“Uhh… almost four years, plus a few months in a medical facility…”

“Then I would have done the same exact thing… although, I would probably have called you… from Red.”

“I meant to, but… it was just me out there and she’s kinda…” he gestured at her helplessly, “ummm… a handful.”

“I have yet to meet a toddler that wasn’t. Okay.” He levered away from the counter and grabbed a datapad. “Alright. Okay. What does lil’Miss Nyra here need… clothes, shoes, diapers?” Keith nodded, “diapers… uh… Galra diapers for kids with tails. That’s gonna take some getting used to. Baby shampoo, baby soap, bed, bedding… ohhh man… where are we going to put her?”

“Maybe we could move Rai in with Lucas and Kashi?” Keith suggested.

“You want to put three teenaged boys in one twelve by twelve bedroom, Mullet? Seriously??” He blinked at his husband, “beyond that, you want to put quiet, serious ‘I don’t like people’ Rai in a room with Khaos, Jr and his trusty sidekick? That would be a nightmare! Okay… lemme think… we can petition for larger quarters.”

“The only places with five bedrooms are on the other side of the ship, the kids will lose their minds if we drag them that far from Shiro and Allura!”

“You’re right, you’re right,” he pushed his hand through his hair, “okay- we’ll figure it out. For now, we can put her in a playpen in our room or down here. Any special needs?”

“There’s a supplement she needs… I’ve got a bottle that should last a month or so and it’s pretty common I guess… and… uh… contact. Lots of it. With all the people that she should consider family.”

“Is this like when we had to give your mother our pillowcases for Yory?” Lance asked, “because that didn’t work- that kid hates me.”

“He doesn’t hate you… he just thinks it is funny to growl at you,” Keith sighed, “or he did when he was younger, I think it is just habit now.”

“Mmmhmm…” Lance wasn’t convinced, “so, supplements and lots of cuddles. I think we can handle that. Think I can get a look at her without waking her? I feel like I should know what my daughter looks like…”

Keith chuckled softly and adjusted his hold on her, carefully sweeping the curtain of hair back from her face to discover her wide awake.

“Beep ahooo!” She cried, scrunching her nose and grinning before dissolving into giggles.

“Yup, Peek-a-boo! You got me,” he laughed, tickling her side, “great job! Uhhh… there’s been a lot of peek-a-boo the last few days. She loves it.”

“I can see that.” Oh, that little one had Keith well and truly wrapped around her tiny finger, and it was kind of irresistible. “I wonder how long she was awake and waiting to spring that on you.”

“Probably not long- she’s not a very patient kiddo. Hey… Nyra… you want to say hi?” He jostled her playfully, “this is Papi. Can you say hi to Papi?”  
She twisted in Keith’s arms and pushed her hair back from her face with the flat of her hands and… oh wow… she was precious. Her eyes were that yellow that so many Galra had that seemed to glow, no matter the lighting, deep purple irises at their center with slitted pupils. Her face was white and it looked like she had fuzz, or fur, maybe? She had the cutest little button nose and a wide, open-mouthed smile that revealed delicate little fangs. Combined with the tail and the tall, black-tipped ears, she looked like a cat-girl from a kids’ cartoon. “Hi!” she said, waving in the way of toddlers, her little hand opening and closing a few times.

“Well, hello there! You are just beautiful, did you know that?”

“Yup,” she nodded, still smiling, but with her brows drawn together seriously, “boof-ul! Boof-ul Nyyy-uh!”

“Yeah, you were a goner,” Lance said to Keith, “it is physically impossible to resist her. She’s too precious. Hey, Nyra! Are you hungry sweetie? You wanna get a snack?” He held his hand out to her, glancing up at his husband again, “any suggestions for food?”

“Yogurt tubes. She loves them- ate every single one I had in the emergency snack backpack. Which reminds me… I need to restock the emergency snack backpack...”

“Yogurt tubes we can do. I just bought some yesterday.”

Nyra kept shifting her focus between his outstretched hand and his face, studying him. “No walk! Up!”

“Walking has been very unpopular today. Yesterday she wouldn’t stop running around. I had to put her in a sling whenever I left Black or she was off like a bullet. Today has been like a game of the floor is lava.”

“Lahba,” echoed Nyra, sticking out her arms.

“Lava,” Lance agreed, scooping her up. She settled against him and clung. He was pretty sure he could let go and she’d stay put without budging an inch. “Alright, you text the twins and tell them we need them here ASAP for a family meeting. Thace can vid call us. Guess what, cutie! It’s time for Papi to find a snack for Nyra. Nummy nummy snack.”

“Nak!” She wriggled, clearly excited, “yay! Nak!”

* * *

As he typed, Keith could feel the stress and worry draining out of him. He’d had every faith that Lance would be on board with welcoming Nyra into their family once he’d heard the full story, but he’d been concerned about the initial reaction. He should have had MORE faith, because no one in the universe had a bigger heart than his husband. The kids might be a bit harder to win over, but he didn’t doubt that Nyra would charm them pretty quickly.

He smiled, watching Lance with their new daughter. He dug out yogurt tubes and she squealed happily. Then he pulled out a juice box and some baby carrots, cheerfully explaining what he was doing to the little girl in his arms. When he sat her on the counter, he was gentle with her tail, tender as he carefully maneuvered the thick ringlets back away from her face and ears. He asked her questions and paid close attention as she babbled answers at him, even though a big chunk of her replies were gibberish.

He thought back to the arrival at the ‘Temporary Custodial Centers for Youth’- the Galra version of an orphanage. Those ‘centers’ fell into two categories. They were either repurposed space stations or cramped, isolated bases on obscure planets. He hated them, but he ALWAYS signed on to help out when they needed to ‘redistribute custodial arrangements’ because one of the bases got so rundown that it had to close, or another space station was converted. He’d sign on for escort duty and help load up the kids (most of them mixed heritage like him… and Nyra) and their belongings into the transports. He and Black would safeguard them until they arrived at their destination, and invariably, there would be a kind of meet and greet thing. Normally, Keith avoided those things- shaking hands and smiling at strangers for countless photos to document that this dignitary or that politician met one of the Paladins of Voltron.

But it was different with those kids. He made a point to chat with each and every one of them. He told them about growing up in similar situations. He let them know that he was like them. They weren’t alone. They weren’t forgotten, or thrown away, or doomed. He gave every single one of them his contact information, and told them to use it if they ever felt unsafe, or if they ever witnessed someone mistreating the kids in their care. He couldn’t do exactly what Shiro had done for him, but he could do that much… and despite his initial concerns that the kids would exploit the access, he’d only gotten three calls in total. All three completely justified. Two of those kids had ended up staying with the Blade of Marmora, and one was now living with a friend of Rhyner’s on Olkarion- and the situations that had led to them reaching out had been rectified.

This trip though, the planetary base that was being shut down was in the midst of loading up the transports when they’d gotten the notification that Nyra was being released into their care and by the time Keith had arrived, things had been in turmoil. The transport was full. The youth to worker ratio was maxed out. They were scrambling to find a way to safely bring her to the new Center. The Black Lion wasn’t designed for passengers, but all of Keith’s kids had travelled with him on occasions from infancy onward. He knew that Black could easily, and would readily accept one small toddler for the duration of the trip. So, Keith had offered, and they’d fallen all over themselves in gratitude.

It wasn’t until they’d docked at the new facility and Keith had tried to drop Nyra off that things had gone… wonky.

He’d never forget the look on the face of the administration clerk when she’d asked why he was ‘returning’ his newly adopted child until the day he died. He’d hissed, horrified at her phrasing and flattened Nyra’s head to his chest, his hand covering her ear to try to keep her from hearing something so awful. He’d intended to explain that there had been some kind of miscommunication, but when he’d opened his mouth, what had come out was: “What kind of MONSTER could ever treat this little sweetheart like a… package they didn’t want?!? You can’t ‘return-to-sender’ a CHILD!” She’d quirked her eyebrow at him and smirked as she handed him back the data stick with all of Nyra’s information on it… he thought she might have even laughed when he’d stormed out of there and back to Black.

Lance was listening intently and nodding along as Nyra babbled at him. Based on her cadence and the animated motions of her hands and her head, Keith guessed she was telling him some kind of story. He doubted it made a lick of sense, but Lance was an old pro at making little storytellers feel heard.

“Should I ask Lura and Ro if they can gather up some of Alban’s old toys and a playpen for us to borrow now? Or wait until after we talk to the kids.”

“Ask them now, but tell them we’ll send one of the kids over to collect it all later.” Lance moved a ringlet out of Nyra’s face, “and ask for some of Allura’s hair stuff… we need to find a way to keep all this hair from blocking her eyes and ears! Don’t we Nyra? It’s important to be able to see and hear stuff, huh?”

“Yuh-huh,” Nyra agreed, nodding, “poh-pint.”

“Ohhh, bicho… you are dangerously cute,” he shook his head, smiling at Keith, “you took pictures, right?”

He nodded, “of course I did. I had to document her coming home for the first time.”

“Smart man! This is why I love you.” He turned his attention back to Nyra, “mmhmm… your Daddy is smart. Papi would have been sooooo mad if he didn’t take pictures of you! Eat your snack, bicho.”

“You and your nicknames,” Keith chuckled, sending the message to Allura and Romelle.

“Nak, nak, nak, nak,” chanted Nyra happily as she crunched on baby carrots that Lance had split lengthwise for her.

“Says the man that still calls me Tumbleweed… and don’t think I didn’t catch you calling bicho here ‘sweetness’.”

“I called all the kids sweetness when they were this small,” he pointed out, “including Yory, Alban, and Hoshi.. It’s just what I call little ones.”

His phone chimed and he glanced down, shaking his head. He should have known! “Shiro,” he said by way of greeting, “paperwork just hit your desk, huh?”

“Keith, what did you _do_?” Shiro asked, “this paperwork doesn’t make any sense!”

“Okay… so… it’s a funny story, really,” he chuckled awkwardly. There were times, even now, when talking to Shiro made him feel like the fourteen year old who’d gotten busted drunkenly sneaking in after curfew and then hurled on Shiro’s shoes. Lance quirked an eyebrow at him and smirked expectantly, somehow managing to look not much older than Keith felt at the moment. “I kind of… _acquired_ a new family member while I was away.”

“Uh-huh… and how did you manage that?” Shiro sounded suspicious.

“Okay- first of all, I want to point out that nothing I ever do in terms of growing my family will ever top somehow getting an older brother by stealing a car, so… you know... there’s that.” Lance laughed, bending over to lean on his elbow on the counter as he struggled to catch his breath. Apparently concerned, Nyra started patting his back gently, smearing yogurt and half-chewed carrot over Lance’s sweater in her efforts. Keith mustered up a glare, pointing at his husband in warning. “There wasn’t room on the transport for her, so I said I’d bring her to the new center,” he explained, “but… there was a… mix-up… with the forms… she’s really something Shiro. Just… the sweetest little thing.”

Somehow, he _heard_ Shiro shake his head, “a mix-up with the forms that couldn’t be undone? Or a mix-up with the forms that you _didn’t want_ to undo?”

“Nyra is my daughter,” Keith answered, “she just… is.”

“Got it.” His voice changed. Keith could almost see Shiro shift roles from commanding officer to family member. “It’ll be nice for Hoshi and Alban to have another playmate around their age. I can’t wait to meet her.”

“Give us until tomorrow and then we’ll make a big announcement and stuff,” he sighed, “it’s been… an intense few days… and the kids haven’t even really met her yet.”

“Understood. Take as long as you need, Keith. You know I’m not going anywhere.”

“Your Daddy already loves you to bits, Nyra,” Lance said softly, kissing the top of her head and making her giggle, “lucky girl.”

“Ucky dirl,” she agreed, nodding before holding up a carrot, “nak!”

“So, you wanna explain the mix-up with the forms to your husband?” Lance asked him conversationally, “or am I just supposed to guess?”

“It was pretty chaotic,” Keith answered, “and I just… filled out the wrong part of the form. So… instead of filling out the part that made me her guardian during the relocation I… uhh… signed on for permanent custody.”

Lance froze, “like… done deal? She’s ours? Permanently?”

“Mmhmm,” he nodded, busying himself with checking to see if Allura and Romelle had replied to him yet- despite the fact that he knew full well that they hadn’t. “We were already an approved adoptive family in the system…”

“You ACCIDENTALLY ADOPTED her!?!?”

“Not every child is planned, Lance.”

“Not every- do you hear yourself? We aren’t talking about a birth control glitch, Keith! You ‘oopsied’ an adoption! Wait- oh my God, how did you find out what you’d done?”

“Um… so… when I tried to drop her off at the new center… that’s when the paperwork issue came up.”

Lance went quiet, which was unusual enough for Keith to tear his eyes away from the phone to glance over at him. Still framing Nyra safely within the curve of his arms, Lance had doubled over again. His shoulders shook and Nyra made soft, comforting noises as she smeared more yogurt and carrot over his sweater with every sweet little pat of her messy hand. It was obvious that she thought he was crying.

Keith knew better.

“The important thing is that she has a home now,” he pointed out levelly.

“Oh… my… God…” gasped Lance, dissolving into laughter. “You couldn’t read the forms, could you?”

“What?!?!” Keith snorted, “of course I could! It was just… busy… and rushed… chaotic…”

“Were the forms in Galran?” he managed between laughs.

“Um… yes…”

“How?!?!” Lance cried, shaking helplessly with laughter, “holy crap, Keith! It’s been decades! How??? HOW are you still… pure chaos?? You are just… Oh my God… you accidentally adopted her because you didn’t want to admit that you can’t read Galran!”

“I can read it!”

“Oh, you are so full of it! Who do you think you are fooling here, babe? I actually CAN read it, and I’ve had to try to decipher the gibberish you’ve put into reports. Your verbal Galran is great, but the written stuff is a mess!”

“Okay, fine!” He grumbled, “my reading comprehension of Galran is… maybe not the best…”

“Ohtay fie!” Nyra squealed, laughing. “OHTAY! FIE!”

“Good God, I love you, you ridiculous man!” Lance shook his head, wiping the tears away. “Well, Nyra Kogane! Welcome to the family, bicho!”

“Mamidee!”

Crouching down to eye level with her, Lance tried again, his voice patient. “Family.”

“Mamidee,” Nyra said, her head cocking to one side.

“Fam-ah-lee...”

“Mam-ih-DEE!” She squealed happily, clapping her hands in celebration of learning the new word.

“Man, I love toddlers,” Lance giggled, tapping her nose. “You’ll get it eventually, lil’one.”

Keith watched them both, his grumpiness at being called out on his poor Galran evaporating in the face of the adorable interactions in front of him. When Lucas had turned thirteen, officially making them parents to teenagers (and one adult), Lance’s brother Luis had made the joking comment ‘welcome to the home stretch’. Lance had taken it in stride at the party, laughing it off and joining in on the good natured joking about all the parenting milestones that were behind him. Keith was pretty sure that, in the moment, Lance had been being sincere, too. But he still found him, later that night, sitting in the office with a bottle of wine and the baby books.

Watching their ‘babies’ grow up was hard. As proud as they were of the children, and of the adults they were becoming… Lance had always struggled when they left one phase behind them. Over the last few months, Keith had caught him sighing wistfully when they were around any of their younger niblings, or new ultrasound pictures made the rounds of the group chats. He’d been thinking about broaching the idea of fostering again with his husband. They’d never had a conversation where they’d decided ‘okay, we’re done. Family complete.’ But after they’d adopted Lucas, they’d been so busy, and for a long time there was a sense of contentment with their family that had been changing with planning for the twins’ graduation and post-secondary plans. The little baby boom that had been happening around them in the last couple of years was probably a part of that, but… Keith knew that he’d been feeling that tug again. The same tug that had lead to them starting their family in the first place… the sense that there was a person missing from their home.

“She calls Kosmo ‘mahzohk’, too,” Keith said, setting the phone aside and rising. He crossed the kitchen to join his husband. “Don’t you, Sweetness?”

“Mahzohk?” She looked around, eyes flashing, “Mahzohk BOOF!”

“Oh man, that’s stupid cute,” Lance giggled. “Her baby book is going to be so adorable!”

“We have the cutest kids,” Keith observed, ducking under Lance’s arm so he could lean back against him, “all six of them.”

“They are the best kids,” Lance agreed, “she’ll fit right in.”


End file.
